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by YXxXxXY



Series: FFXV Oneshots/Drabbles [14]
Category: FFXV - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 08:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YXxXxXY/pseuds/YXxXxXY
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/OC, Prompto/OC, ignis's sister! reader
Series: FFXV Oneshots/Drabbles [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804237
Kudos: 7





	Home

When he first saw her, all Prompto could do was stare. With her ash-blond hair and emerald green eyes, she looked almost exactly like Iggy. Hell, she even acted like the bespectacled man sometimes. That fact alone creeped out the blond marksman. Especially after a few months of knowing her.

Since their first meeting, Prompto was undeniably stricken with the girl – more specifically, with her no-nonsense personality; it reminded him of Iggy. But, there was one major difference between the brother and sister: Inanis was almost five years Ignis’ junior.

When Prompto first found this out, it was right after a Garula hunt in the Alstor Slough…

***

“Iggy, watch out!” Inanis’ voice carried across the battlefield to her brother, who leapt out of the way as the last Garula attempted to bodyslam him. When its body hit nothing but air, it stumbled, and the siblings took the opportunity to link-strike and take down the beast.

“Thank you, Cara,” Ignis said, ruffling his sister’s hair with one of his rare smiles. The girl growled, swatting away the older boy’s hands.

“You know I hate when you do that,” she grumbled, casting her eyes to the ground. “And stop using that nickname already.”

“Oh, buck up, kid!” Gladio guffawed. He had a large smile on his face as he watched the two siblings, being reminded of his own sister.

“Shut up, old man!” Inanis bit back, causing Gladio to burst into laughter.

“Oh, and you’re so young and mature?!” he wheezed, his upper body bent forward as he tried to catch his breath.

“Inanis,” Ignis began, going into what Prompto and Noct liked to call “mom mode.” The two youngest guys watched intently, knowing something juicy was about to go down – it always did when Iggy went full on ‘mom of the group’.

“Don’t even start, Ignis,” she hissed. Said man sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Inanis, you promised me you’d get your temper under control by the time you graduated high school,” the ash-blond chided. The girl froze, as did Prompto and Noct.

“There’s still time…” Prompto heard her mutter, and the blond shot up from where he was lounging in the grass.

“Wait, What?!” he screeched, not unlike a chocobo (which, let’s be real, the others would tease him for it later). His sudden vocals caused Noct to jump near out of his skin, yelping in surprise. “You haven’t graduated yet?!”

Inanis gave the boy a sour look as she placed her hands on her hips. 

“Of course I haven’t graduated yet, Prom! I’m not even eighteen, so how could I?!” she shot back. Her response sent the twenty-year-old into shock, along with his best friend.

“What?!”

***

It wasn’t too long after the Garula hunt that the marksman learned of another thing that made the two siblings seem more different than before.

The group of five had been walking around Lestallum all day, gathering information about the surrounding areas, when they stopped at one of the many eateries in the town. A young boy coming up to them to take their order.

“What can I get you?”

“Do you have any coffee?” Ignis asked, and Inanis sent a glare to him from where she was seated to his left. Prompto noticed this small action, and continued to watch the two siblings closely. Then, when the young boy nodded, Ignis ordered a straight black coffee while the others ordered sodas. As the boy left to get them their drinks, Inanis spoke up.

“I knew I shouldn’t have sat next to you, you jerk,” she snarled. She stood, grabbed her chair and brought it next to Prompto’s, trying to get as far away from her brother as she could without going to a different table.

“Why’re you calling Iggy a jerk, Nanis?” the blond asked, pouting. As far as he could tell, her brother had done nothing to incur her wraith. The girl turned her emerald eyes to him, and his breath caught in his throat.

“'Cause he knows I can’t stand the smell of coffee,” she replied, the edge in her voice intended for her brother. At her reply, Prompto’s baby blue eyes shot wide in shock. As she turned her face away from the blond, she mumbled, “It gives me headaches…”

“I’m sorry, what?” was all Prompto could say, nothing registering correctly. “Did you just say that you hate coffee?” Her eyes snapped back to him.

“No, just the smell of it I can’t stand. The taste isn’t that bad, if I can actually drink it,” she clarified. Nevertheless, the blond was still dumbstruck, his mouth hanging open. When her delicate hands reached for his face, he felt his heart skip a beat and his mind stopped working. She gently closed his mouth, a small frown on her face. “You’ll catch flies that way.”

The blond didn’t respond – couldn’t respond. His face went beet red and his body froze. Gladio, who was watching the two with vague interest, burst out into laughter at the blond marksman’s reaction.

“I think you broke him, Inanis!” he hollered as their drinks arrived.

***

The third time Prompto learned something Eos-shattering about Ignis’ little sister was when the group was camping out. The sun had just set, and they could hear the unmistakable sounds of demons from – hopefully – far off. Ignis was working on dinner as Prompto and Noct were playing King’s Knight. The blond was losing badly to the crown prince, his grip on his phone tightening every so often when Noct would deal an especially devastating blow.

“Oh, come on, Noct!” the freckled beauty whined when the dark-haired male took a victory once again.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Noct said, a smirk on his lips as he looked at his friend. All of a sudden, his sapphire eyes went wide, looking behind Prompto. Curiosity getting the better of him, Prompto turned around and nearly fell out of his chair.

Inanis was crouched behind Iggy, holding her hand to her chest. Prompto could see the look of pain on her face, yet she made no noise to alert her older brother.

“Six, Nis! Are you alright?!” Gladio’s booming voice caused Ignis to stop working on dinner to look down at his sister. Almost instantly, he went into doctor mode, grabbing his sister’s hand to see a very large gash across her palm. The cut spanned from the inside edge at the base of her thumb all the way to the opposite side of her hand.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Ignis’ voice was cold as he grabbed the first-aid kit he always kept with the camp stove, just in case. As he began cleaning the wound, the girl’s face contorted in pain, and she still made no noises.

Unbidden, Prompto stood, coming over to crouch next to the siblings.

“Hey, you alright, Nanis?” he asked once Iggy had finished wrapping the wound. The girl brought her hand to her chest once more, her eyes downcast. After a few moments, she raised her head and glared at Gladio. She said nothing, but her eyes said everything. You’re dead, Gladiolus. Just the look she gave the mountain of a man made Prompto shiver in fear. Gladio only laughed again, waving off her threat as he went to start the campfire.

“Nis?” Prompto asked, grabbing her shoulder. The girl turned her eyes to the blond, tilting her head to the right. “What happened?”

Inanis grimaced, averting her eyes. She didn’t answer him, only kept staring at the ground. Prompto’s concern grew with each passing second.

“She can’t cook,” Noct said, and for the upteenth time that month Prompto’s eyes went wide. Surely, as Iggy’s sister, you would be able to cook. He had just assumed that you could, so hearing that you, in fact, couldn’t was kind of a shock for him.

“Seriously?” he asked. He regretted it as soon as the words passed his lips when the girl wilted before his eyes.

“I hate you, Noctis,” she grumbled, getting to her feet. She shook Prompto’s hand off her shoulder and began walking away.

***

In the fourth month of knowing her, Prompto realized something: Inanis wasn’t who she projected to the group. As far as the blond could see, no one in the group had realized this – not even her own brother. Then again, Ignis was kind of occupied with watching over Noct and himself, not to mention cooking for everyone.

He had first noticed her true nature when they went to Steyliff Grove, while they were in the dungeon. The girl had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since they had arrived, and it worried the blond. But his worry was pushed aside as soon as daemons began to appear. He didn’t do it on purpose, there just wasn’t any time to be worried about others when they were fighting the enemy. He would come to regret not keeping his eyes on her.

The group of four was walking through the dungeon carefully, Aranea following closely behind, when they reached the bottom floor. As soon as they arrived, the large dragon-like creature stood from its perch and began attacking them. It felt like the fight went on for hours, while in reality it was only a few minutes. And when those few minutes were up, the creature laid dead. But no one thought to wait to see if it disappeared like the other daemons before walking past the supposed corpse and grabbing what they had come for.

It was only when Inanis’ voice rang out through the cavern that the group realized their mistake. The three guys could only watch as the youngest party member was sent flying into a wall. The scream that erupted from her throat was bloodcurdling, to say the least; it made Noct go on edge, Prompto freeze, and Ignis fall to his knees. The only thought going through any of their heads was that they could’ve prevented this from happening.

“Weapons up, boys!” Aranea’s voice brought them all back to the present, and the three attacked the beast relentlessly, killing it for sure this time as its body disintegrated when it fell.

“Inanis!” Ignis ran to his sister’s side as soon as they fell the beast, cradling her in his arms. He brought a hand to her neck, checking for a pulse. It was there, but it was faint. Ignis sighed shakily as he listened to her breathing. It had grown labored, painful.

Gathering her in his arms, Ignis shot Noct a look. The young prince nodded, then began rushing through the dungeon towards the entrance. As soon as he saw sunlight, they all picked up their pace, anxiety growing as Inanis let out a strangled whimper, curling into her brother.

“Everything’s gonna be alright, Cara,” Ignis whispered to his sister. Her only response was a less than audible cry of pain.

***

“I’m so sorry, Iggy!” Prompto cried out, head in his hands as he sat alongside the bed that Inanis was currently occupying. “I could feel something was off about her, but I didn’t–”

“It is not your fault, Prompto,” Ignis interjected, but the blond didn’t meet his eyes. Instead, he sank further into his own thoughts – thoughts of ineptitude, thoughts of uselessness. He could feel his heart cracking as each thought appeared, then left once they had done their damage to his mind.

_Had I just kept my eyes on her, then–_

The blond’s thoughts were interrupted when Gladio ran into the room, Noct close behind. They had been at the power plant working to get rid of the daemons, and when Noct had told him what had happened to Inanis, the large man had run all the way to The Leville.

“How is she?” was the first thing Gladio asked. When neither Ignis nor Prompto answered, he took one look at Inanis and fell to his knees. Although they looked nothing alike, Gladio could only see Iris in Inanis as she laid, motionless and pale.

“She hasn’t regained consciousness,” Ignis said, his voice shaking. He went to sit in the chair positioned next to the bed, steepling his fingers. “I-I don’t think she will.”

***

During the fifth month of knowing the girl, Prompto realized another thing:

He loved her. Loved her more than anything. He didn’t really know why, only that he did. So as he sat there, watching Inanis take in slow breaths, tears began falling from his eyes. He watched as she took her final breath, and all he could do was sit there. He couldn’t help her, and from that night forward he’d never get the chance.

When the group was in Altissia – after the rite, after Luna died, after Ignis lost his sight – Prompto fell apart. He pulled at his hair, screamed his throat raw, cried his eyes dry. He felt worthless: he couldn’t protect his friend’s sister, he couldn’t protect his friend … It was thoughts like these that took over his mind as he sank to the floor of the hotel room.

“Dammit …” the blond muttered, voice full of anguish. Not even when he was younger had he felt pain like this, the pain of losing so much in such a short time. He didn’t think he could take any more loss.

And he turned out to be right.

***

Ten years.

It has been ten years since Inanis died. Even now, Prompto carried the guilt around with him, beating himself up over the fact that he couldn’t help her, in the end. He couldn’t help his best friend all those years ago when Noct disappeared. He couldn’t help anyone.

Now, he usually stuck around Hammerhead, helping the Hunters with daemon hunts whenever he could. Ignis and Gladio were out doing their own things, the two never once doubting that Noct would return one day. But Prompto? … He was a little less … inclined to believe that the Lucian king would return after ten years. So when Talcott called him one day – night – he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Noctis had come home.

***

“The four of us around a campfire. How long’s it been?” _Noct, my king…_

“Hmm … an eternity.” _Ignis, my brother…_

“So, yeah.” Crackling of the fire, embers illuminating Prompto’s face. She watched the four from afar, a sadness in her eyes. 

“I, um …” Noct struggled to get the words out. Prompto leaned forward in his chair, eyes watching his best friend.

“Out with it.” _Gladio, my friend…_

“I just …” Noct’s hand clenched into a fist as he once again struggled with the words. He sighed. “… Dammit. The hell is this so hard?” There was a heavy pause, the only sound being the crackling of the fire.

“So, I …” The black-haired man lifted his head, eyes scanning the group of friends seated beside him. “I’ve made my peace. Still…

"Knowing this is it, and seeing you here, now … it’s … more than I can take.” Tears fell from her eyes as Noct’s voice cracked on the last word, his composure crumbling as a tear slipped from his eye.

“Yeah. You’re damn right it is.” _Prompto. Oh, sweet Prompto…_

“Huh, you spit it out,” came Gladio’s reply, his head thrown back as he looked up at the sky – hoping the others wouldn’t see his tears. But she did. Ignis sighed.

“It’s good to hear,” the blind man said, leaning forward in his seat, head turned toward his king. There was another pregnant pause, this one much longer than before. The quiet of the moment was interrupted when Noct stood abruptly, looking at his friends with glassy eyes.

“Well, what can I say? You guys …

”… are the best.“ It was after Noct’s declaration that she decided to make herself known.

"Boys,” she said, a sad smile on her lips as the light from the fire reached her, pulling her out of the shadows. 

“About time you showed yourself, Cara,” Ignis said, a tender smile given to his sister. Prompto stared at the girl, the tears halting as he gazed at her face.

“I’m so … proud of you all,” Inanis said through her own tears. Her arm came up to wipe them away, but when she felt someone’s hand on her cheek, she looked up into those beautiful baby blue eyes she had grown to love. Prompto held her face in his hands, thumbs wiping away her tears as he let his own fall freely. He put his forehead to hers, closing his eyes as he smiled.

They say home is where the heart is.

Well, Prompto was finally home.


End file.
